In a variety of procedures utilizing relatively small tools, instruments, and/or other implements, it is often desirable or necessary to provide a container or other medium for keeping track of and temporarily storing such various devices. In particular, in surgical procedures it is extremely critical to constantly maintain an accurate count and accounting for the various medical and surgical implements utilized during any particular procedure. In this regard, failure to maintain such control over scalpels, scalpel blades, suture needles, injection needles and other surgical sharps can be hazardous to both patient and surgical staff alike.
During various surgical procedures, it is often also necessary for the surgeon to use several different scalpels and/or to utilize other surgical sharps such as hypodermic needles and the like repeatedly at intermittent times throughout the procedure. As a consequence, surgical sharps must often be temporarily stored (e.g., on an instrument platform or the like) during the procedure for quick access as needed. As can be imagined, exposed scalpels and the like can pose significant health and safety threats to persons in the operating room, and protection from such instruments is important for reducing the risk of unnecessary cuts, scratches, and/or infection.
Recognizing these critical needs, a variety of devices and containers have been devised in an attempt to conveniently and reliably contain surgical sharps. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,165, which issued to L. Annett, discloses a hinged container having a bottom and cover joined by a common hinge. The Annett container is to be utilized in a folded-open condition, and the common hinge can be split apart to enable separation of the two pieces for separate use. The bottom portion of the container includes a magnetic insert to retain magnetic surgical articles, or may be provided with a cushioned pad to help retain small surgical articles. This magnetic insert or cushioned pad may also be provided with indicia for facilitating an account of the surgical implements contained. This device, however, must be maintained in its open condition during use, as temporary storage of surgical implements is only possible while the device is maintained in open condition. As a result, the surgical implements are still accessible to inadvertent contact with operating room personnel and the like, and the instruments must either be removed from the container, or the container left in an open condition, for movement of the container and/or disposal procedures.
Another device for retaining and disposing of surgical sharps is set illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,449, which issued to D. Conard et al. The Conard et al. device comprises a container and lid arrangement designed to lock together in closed condition to reduce the likelihood of removal of inserted sharps. The container portion of the device may also include a block of styrofoam for receiving the surgical sharps prior to closure by the locking lid. The use of the detachable Conard lid to carry and hold various medical equipment, however, requires multiple handling of the surgical implements in order to enable the closure of the device following use. Moreover, this device does not provide for convenient receiving and/or containment of smaller surgical sharps such as suture needles or discarded scalpel knife blades.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,844, which issued to S. Scott et al., discloses a multi-compartment container which includes one shallow compartment having a pair of spaced foam strips for receiving needles and the like, as well as a hinged lid attached thereto and having an adhesive layer on its inner surface for receiving suture needles. An additional closed compartment is also provided for the insertion of used scalpel blades, wherein the upper face of this closed compartment is transparent to enable the contents of the closed compartment to be inspected. Again, the Scott container must be maintained in an open condition for use, and does not provide for relatively enclosed temporary storage of surgical sharps during the operating procedures. Additionally, often in the relatively compressed time periods allotted for surgical procedures, careful insertion of used needles into the foam strips or the like is not practical under the circumstances, and reuse of instruments inadvertently laid upon the adhesive layer may be difficult. This device must also be folded into a closed condition, or carefully moved in its open condition for disposal procedures. Loose needles and the like can require additional handling for proper disposal.
Devices similar to the Scott et al. container have also been available with one or more of the adjacent compartments includes a magnetic surface, similar to that described above with respect to the Annett patent. Again, these fold-open type containers do not provide a substantially closed receiving area for temporary storage of surgical sharps, and must either be folded closed after use or carefully moved in an open condition following use. As will be understood, additional handling of surgical sharps, which often have blood and/or other foreign bodily fluids on their surfaces, is clearly not desirable under any circumstance.
Yet another device designed for holding medical instruments and disposing of surgical sharps is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,326, which issued to D. Sandel et al. Particularly, the Sandel patent shows and describes a medical instrument holder which must also be used in a folded-open condition. The device comprises a pair of plastic body halves, with one half including an inclined medical instrument rest member which enables temporary storage of instruments in an outwardly angled orientation. A cushion of foam is provided to receive the tips of sharp instruments positioned on the rest, and a magnetic surface is provided within the lid portion of the container body to hold discarded surgical sharps. Again, this device must be closed for disposal, or discarded in an open condition, which will generally require removal of the instruments and additional handling of non-sterile sharps.
As can be seen, while a great number of attempts have been implemented to address the continuing problems of carefully accounting for the various medical instruments and sharp devices utilized in surgical procedures, heretofore there has not been available a single device which can effectively receive and retain substantially all kinds of surgical sharps in a reliable and simple manner, and which provides for the temporary storage of sharp instruments without requiring opening or closing of the container or multiple handling of the contaminated instruments. Particularly, no single device could provide reliable one-time handling of essentially all of the various surgical sharps commonly utilized in surgical procedures while providing for convenient accounting of all such instruments in an organized manner and minimizing handling requirements and facilitating counts and visual accounting of the sharps.